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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1985)
Page 2/The Battalion/Friday, May 3, 1985 OPINION > A Texas Blue Law repeal is overdue The House voted Wednesday to repeal the Blue Law, a 24- year-old restriction which prohibited the sale of 42 items on con secutive weekends. Rep. David Cain, D-Dallas, appropriately compared the out-of-date law to “Leave It to Beaver.” As Cain pointed out, stores are no longer as specialized as they were in 1961, when the law was first enacted. A Safeway or a Kroger can find it difficult to keep track of what items can and cannot be sold on Sundays. Opponents of the repeal are claiming a need to have a day reserved for the family, but having stores open on Sunday would not prevent a “family day” for those who desired it. The Blue Law is a relic from a different age which has lin gered in our society long enough. Many families, and, for that matter, college students, have no choice but to shop on Sundays. And as more and more households have both husband and wife working, June simply doesn’t have all day to shop before Ward and the Beaver get home. The Senate has not yet voted on the repeal, but we hope they will follow the example of their neighbors in the House and bring an end to this archaic and seemingly random restriction on the sale of certain items of merchandise. In 1985, the idea of not being able to purchase certain things on Sunday is ridiculous at best, and grocery and department stores having to rope off aisles containing “prohibited” items is even more absurd. The Battalion Editorial Board Handicapped are more than ballast Loren Steffy “. . . all men are created equal,”is not just a dramatic phrase penned by an idealistic par- triot who had no concept of life in the 20th Century. It is one of the foundations of our country. Ap parently the Texas Commission on Human Rights has forgotten the signifi- gance of these words. Bill Hale, the commission’s executive director, said Wednesday the agency will not prosecute complaints of job dis crimination filed by handicapped peo ple. Hale said because of'lack of funds, the agency had to concentrate its small staff on money-generating cases. Not only is such a decree in direct vio lation of state law, it completely ignores the commission’s primary purpose. Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston, one of the sponsors of the bill that created the agency, said the commission was specif ically ordered by the Legislature to han dle complaints of the handicapped be- cause the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does not deal with those. Hale claims the agency lost $40,000 handling handicapped complaints. “I just can’t afford to do that anymo re,” he said. What a business-like approach to hu man rights. Defending social injustice is a heroic thing as long as the budget stays afloat, but the minute the ship begins to sink, it’s time to throw that handicapped ballast overboard. Hale is saying hand icapped people have to sacrifice their basic human rights for the sake of a buck. I’m sure their employers won’t mind Hale’s decision, knowing that their chances of prosecution for job discrimi nation are almost nil. Maybe enough handicapped people will get together and sue the commis sion for its blatant abuse of the law. But how ironic to have to sue an agency to get them to to stop discriminating against you so that they can protect you from discrimination. The phrase, after all, says “ . . . all men are created equal.” Not “ . . . all men are created equal when it is eco nomically feasible.” Loren Steffy is a sophomore journa lism major and the editorial page edi tor for The Battalion. LETTERS: Exposing a magician EDITOR: What a magician Mike Goad is with numbers and statistics. In the first place, his statement, “last semester a student who earned a 78 in Chemistry 101 got the same ‘C’ as a student who earned a 56,” is really imaginative. If you ask any Chem 101 student who earned a 78 last semester, he’ll tell you that he got a “B.” On the other hand, a student with a 61 or below unfortunately only got a “D.” However, in stretching a range of 15 points to a range of 22 points only in volves a less than 50 percent error. Not that bad. Secondly, he provided The Battalion staff writer with the following numbers about the Chem 102 grade averages from three exams: 6 percent “A,” 15.5 percent “B,” 20.5 percent “C,” 26.5 per cent “D” and 31.5 percent “F.” He also repetitively talked about 58 percent “Ds” and “Fs” in his letter to the editor. 1 lowever, on page 4 of the “first day hand-out” which we presented to all the Chem 102 students, we specifically stated, “The ranges of the letter grades w ill be determined at the end of the se mester.” None of us teaching in Chem 102 knows anything about the letter grade distribution invented by Mike. In fact, none of us know any letter grade distribution of Chem 102 at this stage. Since Mike is so creative about num bers and statistics related to events which are both recent and local, I really do not know what percentage of truth I should believe in our great Magician when he quotes some numbers and sta tistics related to events which are either two years ago (the O’Connor data) or one hundred miles away (the UT data). Since there is doubt about the solid numbers he quotes, how can we trust the subjective opinions he expresses? Journalist and TV commentators: if . you want to do any responsible report ing, be very quick with your eyes and ears. Be sure that you can distinguish whether the great Magician is idling or performing. If I were you, anything he says I would ask him to identify the source, or to back up statements with unmistakable facts. Dr. Yi-Noo Tang Lecturer Freshman Chemistry Defending Freshman Chemistry Program EDITOR: A note to the students of Chem 101 and 102: I have several short remarks to make in response to Mike Goad’s assessment of the present Freshman Chemistry De partment Program at TAMU: The questionaires for the recent (4/26/85) student poll were handled per sonally by Dr. Tang and myself; the chemistry department was not involved. The information was collected in the Friday noon class when many students Editors defend There are about as many miscon ceptions about 1 h e B a 11 a 11 o n Rhonda Snider around here as there are Aggies — a whole bunch. This week The Battalion ran a Michelle Powe three-part series ~ about, guess what, The Battalion. The writer of the articles interviewed many people about their feelings to ward Texas A&M’s student newspaper. The comments ranged from compli mentary to downright derogatory. It seems a favorite pastime in Aggie- land is ragging on ‘that liberal rag,’ The Battalion. Of the criticisms directed at The Battalion, some were valid and some were not. The charge that too many mistakes consistently appear in the paper is valid. Even one mistake is too many. We try to be as accurate as possible, but even the best reporters make mistakes now and then. That our reporters delve into unfa miliar areas to cover a story is also a valid criticism. At times, Batt reporters have to cover events or issues they know little about. The root of both of these problems is the same: Batt reporters are students. The entire staff of The Battalion is made up of students —students who do their Battalion work in between going to classes, studying for exams and working other jobs. Because The Battalion relies on stu dent workers, it has a high turnover rate. Reporters aren’t around long enough to become experts on particular areas. By the time editors become profi cient at editing and management, it’s time to hire a new staff. In other words, we don’t have the ad- The vantage that non-collegiate newspapers have of honing reporter-analysts and the wise old souls who work at copy desks. So we work with what we have. Some times we send inexperienced reporters out, admonishing them to do loads of background research, to question any thing they don’t understand and to dou ble-check facts. The choice is either to send less-expe rienced reporters out or to not cover the event at all. We choose to cover the news. And we make some mistakes. But we re not afraid to correct those mis takes, remembering that a published correction is a sign that we’re doing ev erything we can to be accurate and ob jective. While these criticisms about The Bat talion are valid, some of the complaints in the series were without merit. They reflected gross misconceptions of the purpose of The Battalion. A common complaint about the pa per is that the editorial board does not reflect the opinions of A&M students. The editorial board is not supposed to represent student body opinion, but to reflect our own opinions. Our goal is not to be a mirror of the student body, but a light to the student body. The edi torials are to make people think. Even so, we give other opinions equal time: columns, letters, reader’s forums. We’re accused of covering controver sial topics just to kick up dirt, and of covering only bad news. We’re accused of being anti-Corps, anti-Student Gov ernment, anti-A&M, anti-American, anti-anything. The Battalion does not try to be con troversial; we just try to present the news. And we do cover good news; peo ple usually just remember or notice the bad new's. We’re not anti-anything. We’ve pub- BattaliObro Info lished lots of articles that reflecttBI® on, for example, the Corps—iM lion of the new Corps commanfl By 1 appointment of the first won* Corps staff , the Corps awards,[j “hnforn just a few — that ran on page ou don’t manufacture news. AnythijB^ts ative we reported about theCj ie ,' ,* just that — reported. We dontirJ| m( j s bad things happen. , aI | ie an( We’re not a bunch of liberals,tiTe infoi At least not most of us. When you have as large andul a group as we have w orkin;fi| | RJ m sweeping generalizations don’t, ^ This semester, we have hadkBrdinat on The Battalion two cadets, tJwy P ur ] eers, edu oh future eign students, out-of-state studJ aUon ai j < gay student, black students, soroiB^ all< fraternity members, students country music, rock music, ne* ^ music and gospel music. PeopleB^' staff are married, others aresin®, rmat i ( a few are engaged. We have peopHrs, sayi go to various religious services: eltphone who go to no religious services. ■ u P atl< It’s hard to be biased inanypn®^, m way with such a myriad of people 1,4 ;^ j But probably the most pokcupatio charge waved in our faces is tl W w il ho Battalion does not accurately ref® A&M student body. The jobofiB^ e w * paper is not to mirror its readerqp 11 .P eo l to report accurately and lairly. v] T (()r j To only print pretty little r lWe ah which say what Aggies want iilinlncial would be to deny the stimulation eI j se d on intelligence and curiousity ofstudB ^ College students are adults, > m |,i 0 y er to absorb differing opinions andRupatio their own decisions. They are notful to co pressionable as one former body president seems to think. V® 11 ^ 111 have to spoon-feed them the li* u ( t u,i mgs of the world. We dont havel^T sa y S down to them. Rhonda Snider is the fall edilori^y^'i^, ' Battalion and Michelle Powe is lj a ] (; oon aging editor. Is, opei he best sc Some post-graduation uses for that lovely cap and govi Graduating se niors escape from a world of college- type problems and enter a world of real-life-type problems. But there’s one prob lem that bridges the gap between the two worlds: what to do with your graduation cap and gown. Dainah Bullard This problem is difficult to catago- rize. Is it the last of the college-type problems, or the first of the real-world- type problems? Why are gowns for Texas A&M graduates black (as in fune ral) instead of maroon (as in Aggie)? And what do you do with a $13.67 robe composed of two yards of paperish material that smells like glue (is THAT what holds it together?), and a hat that looks like a retarded flying disk? The problem of what to do with an ugly graduation gown after graduation is but one dilemma faced by graduating seniors. Few students cruise through their years at A&M without ever being hassled by their professors, the campus cops or the darlings at Heaton Hall. But those troubles culminate during the fi nal semester at the University. Only a divine being can spare grad uating seniors all the academic and fi nancial fiascoes of their final semester. However, with a little ingenuity, one graduation memory — the ugly, smelly black one — can be salvaged to live a life of usefulness. The following are some pratical uses for an impractical gradua tion requirement: • Wear the gown as bath robe — pro vided the paperish material holds up to moisture and there is absolutely no one around to see you. • Wear the gown as swim suit cover- up — provided the paperish material holds up to moisture and you want to discourage everyone who might see you. • Wear the gown as a gown — if you’re really desperate. • Line a bird cage with the gown — if you want to depress the bird. • Drape a bird cage with the gown — if you want to kill the bird. • Make a black mask, and play Zoro with the gown. • Stretch the gown over a frame to make a wigwam. • Use the cap and gown forrai — the perfect fashion accessory! lege Station. • Use the cap and gown fora'' costume at Halloween. The cap'j form a pointed peak withjustaJ couragement. • Get a little exercise — use I for a flying disk. (You may ge than just a little exercise. Who! what direction that thing could fl'j • Dress up your kitchen—i cap for a serving tray, cake pi cutting board. • Bronze the cap and gown; it to a marble slab — the campuso more statues. These are just a few of man' tions to the problem of what t( the graduate’s garb. Every gr: free to adopt one of these soluW think up one of his or her own.Ju thing: don’t dump the costume on Will or the Salvation Army. Af«| what did they ever do to you? Dainah Bullard is a graduating^ tural journalism major and fom sistant city editor for The Battalia c had already started their weekend, thus accounting for the lower response. The data were worked up by me. Dr. Tang and a Battalion representative. We are popular instructors, it is true, but our classes are only slightly above average. Even so, this survey was probably more representative of general student opin ion than the comments of the students Mike is tutoring. You are in university to learn, to think —to seek out all sides of a situation and make an independent decision based on facts. The fact is that the grade distribution for Chem 101 (Fall 84) was: A, 100-88; B, 87-78; C, 77-62; D, 61-50. This does not include the 2 points extra credit for attempting the homework problems. The fact is that the grade distribution for Chem 10 will not oe set until after finals week. Mike misrepresented the data for the first three exams. The final grades will be curved. Curving is the norm fcjr univer sity courses (and yes, Mike, Dr. O’Con nor did curve the grades in his adminis tration). We understand chemistry is a diffi cult subject and therefore unpopular for many of you who have to take it. But, remember — we are teaching fu ture doctors veterinarians, engineers, biochemists, biologists, etc. We have an obligation to give these students a solid, extensive grounding in basic chemistry. The tutorial help we have available is to help you understand the material in a course that is not your main love. Any program can be improved to some extent — there is no doubt — con structive critic ism is a part of the process — but criticism is based on fact. As it stands, the Freshman Chemistry pro gram is at least as good, as helpful, as willing to discuss and explain policy to its studentsas any program on campus. I am willing to discuss face-to-face the pros and cons of this program (includ ing exams, homework, textbook etc.) with anyone. Good luck on your finals. Dr.Wendy Keeney-Kennicutt Lecturer in the Freshman Chemistry Program Editor’s note: Dr. Keeney-Kennicutt says the grade distribution statistics for the Fall Chemistry 101 classes (quoted above) were obtained from the end-of- the-year computer grade sheets. How ever, the statistics quoted in Wednes day’s Battalion were grades reported to Michael Coad by Chemistry 101 stu dents. The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Rhonda Snider, Editor Michelle Powe, Managing Editor Kay Mallett, News Etliior Loren Stef f y, Editorial Page Edit® Karen Bloch, City Editor Travis Tingle, Sports Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting M*' operated as a community service to Texas A* Bryan-Collcge Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are tbo* Editorial Board or the author, and do not necCSSW resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrator) or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newpf students in reporting, editing and photograph) 1 within the Department of Communications. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor should not exceed .100 length. The editorial stall reserves the right toetH 1 for style and length hut will make every elToit tof the author's intent. Each letter must be signed it include the address and telephone number of the* The Battalion is published Monday through during Texas A&-M regular semesters, except O" 1 and examination periods. Mail subscriptions arc per semester, $33.25 per school year and flhf' year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed AW 1 ' Building, Texas A&M University, College Siatt' 1 77843. Editorial stall phone number: (409)845-20 vertising: (409) 845-2611. Second class postage paid at College Station, IT POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ion, Texas A&M University, College Station, Tec w re th 9 a I of 60 Eh T SI